


Twelve Seconds

by Medie



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Tumblr Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 18:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4716698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing more terrifying than Tony Stark? Is Tony Stark with a twin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twelve Seconds

**Author's Note:**

> dearest tygermama pointed out that [Arno Stark](http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Arno_Stark_%28Earth-616%29) exists and then suggested that, perhaps, MCU Tony would benefit more from a sister and, well, here we are.
> 
>  **Warning for ableist language** : because Howard Stark is, well, Howard Stark.

She was always a disgrace to her father. Growing up, Arya was never, ever allowed to forget that. She was too weak, too frail, too much of everything she wasn't supposed to be and not enough of what she was. Dad was always good at pretending for the cameras. At least once or twice a year she and Tony got trotted out for the cameras, dear old Dad carrying his cripple of a daughter out to the pool behind the mansion. It was always for the cameras. 

The rest of the time, Dad's gaze skipped over her, hugs were never more than fleeting, and that was only if he happened to be there. Most of her childhood was marked not by his abuses, but by his absences. 

In that, she actually got off lightly. It was worse for Tony. While she spent her days in the kitchen, listening to Jarvis' silly songs while she studied at the table, Tony was the 'healthy' child, the 'whole' child, and Tony had to be there for so much more. Tony was the heir apparent. She was the after thought. 

She's forgiven Dad a lot since his death, Mom too, but the way he treated Tony is the one thing she'll never be able to let go of. 

Funny, since Tony would probably say the same of her. 

"So, according to my calendar has all sorts of important things on it that I need to do today. In fact, I'm literally supposed to be in about thirteen different places right now, but they're just going to have to wait," Tony says, landing on her bed like they're thirteen years old and still throwing their own birthday parties with Jarvis and their nannies. 

Arya laughs. "Why didn't you just reschedule the like I did?"

"Because it's more fun to piss off a few dozen people to party hearty with my baby sister." He wriggles up to snuggle in beside her, pressing a smacking kiss to her cheek and holding up a slender box. "Happy birthday." 

"Twelve seconds, Tony," she says, hitting him over the head with the present. It has a tiny screen. A keypad. Her brother is _ridiculous_. "You are twelve seconds older than me." It's not quite that, of course, but Mom and Aunt Peggy always loved to tease them about racing down the birth canal and, well, it's stuck. 

"Still counts," he rests his chin on her shoulder.

"Does not," she sing-songs. "You tripped me."

"Did not," he argues. "You slipped." Wiggling his chin, he pokes the present. "Open it." 

"If I open it, I can't hit you with it," she says, poking him. "That's more fun." 

"Yeah, but if you spend all night hitting me with it, we can't get to the fun part."

Arya rolls her eyes. "You know that comments like that are why people keep writing articles about our inappropriate relationship, right?"

"Yeah, well, gotta one-up Angelina somehow, and neither one of us has the lips for it. You probably have the badass, but you insist on being a hermit, so—" Tony pokes her. "Open it."

"I would have by now if not for the part where it's _locked_." She wiggles the box in his face. "You locked my birthday present; you are the worst brother _ever_ "

"And you love me," he beams. 

"And I love you," she agrees, smacking a kiss of her own on his forehead. "Now tell me the code."

"Nope."

"But—"

"You are a Stark, sister dear, and imminently capable of handling this." Tony sits up. "Might I remind you of the time you charmed some old dude into writing an entire series dedicated to your awesome."

"And then Obie tried to copyright my name?"

"And I bought like five thousand copies on his credit card and donated them to libraries to make up for it? Good times." 

She laughs. "It was, actually. You're forgetting the launch party you threw. There was a fire and ice themed firework show and you got me a pony."

"Always get the princess a pony," Tony says, solemn. "Even when she stalls because she's totally failing out on the combination."

The yelp he makes when she plucks a hair out of his goatee is music to her ears. 

"Okay, no pony," Tony rubs his chin. "Also, still stalling." 

"Oh my god, you are impossible." He doesn't fall off the bed when she pushes at him, but only because he's had ridiculous amounts of practice at not falling off beds. "I am not stalling. I am merely delaying confirmation that my big brother absolutely would not time our birthdays down to the actual second."

He grabs for it, of course, because he is a huge, ridiculous dork who absolutely did do it. Arya's not fast on her feet, but she is absolutely fast on a keyboard and the lid pops free with a little hiss. 

"Okay, so that just happened," Tony shrugs, unrepentant. 

"You are ridiculous." Lifting the necklace out of the box, she looks at the gold disk and coding etched onto it. She's spent years poking around Tony's workshop. She's seen the coding for dozens of his creations.

She still has the source code they'd recovered from the first suit. 

This looks something like it, but not quite. It's different. It's something like the code they've used for some of her aids, but, again, it's not quite that either.

"Figure it out yet?"

Arya hands over the necklace. It's awkward, shifting around on the bed to let him put it on for her, but it's fine. "What did you do? That's not code for a new chair."

"No, but the hoverchair is totally on the books, just so you know," Tony fastens the necklace and then gets off the bed, going for her chair. She could've called it, of course, but he likes to help and she likes to let him. "I was thinking more along the lines of exoskeleton." 

Sliding into her chair, she looks up at him with a suspicious squint. "I thought I already nixed the IronSister plan?" 

"You did and, believe me, I am still heart-broken, but no, this is not a full suit. While, personally, I think you'd make a rocking M.A.N.T.I.S, you have no interest and Fox is refusing to negotiate so the plan is shelved."

"We need to discuss your priorities again, brother dearest," she teases, following him out into the hallway. "That my wishes are on par with a network's willingness to negotiate..." 

"I was just covering my bases in case you changed your mind," he insists, but the slight hint of terror in his voice is reassuring, as is the disgusted look she gets when he sees her grin. "Not fair, baby sister, not fair."

"Fair's irrelevant in this family," Arya shrugs. "Right, JARVIS?"

"Given the glee with which you both indulge in the first of April's tomfoolery, I would have to say yes, Ms. Stark. Fair is quite irrelevant."

"Stop agreeing with her, JARVIS. You're not helping." 

The split second warning of the steps scraping as they begin to shift into a ramp is all the warning Tony gets. JARVIS is too delicate a soul to snicker, so Arya does it for him. "You wrote his code, brother dearest," she laughs, as he quite ungracefully skids and slides his way to the landing, "you shouldn't be surprised that he likes me better."

Tony leans against the wall. "So, while a full suit would be totally *awesome*, I was thinking something a little less than that." 

"Braces?"

"Something like that, but seriously pimped out. I'm thinking something that helps with mobility as well as muscle tone—probably going to take some tinkering, but hey, if you're game, I figure we can get this thing working right and into full production by the end of the year. Once we get the kinks worked out, you and Pepper can work out the foundation and finance side of it and, boom, anybody that wants to try the whole walking and running thing gets to." 

He grins at her. "How's that sound for a birthday present?"

Arya grins back. "Doesn't suck."


End file.
